Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness
by JakCooperThePlumber
Summary: Eight years after the events of Sly 3, trouble arises. Something bigger and more terrifying than anything the Cooper Gang has ever encountered before, and it'll be up to them to defeat this new league of enemies, as well as unlock more information about Sly's past, and Shotgun the thief just might have the information that they're looking for.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Alright, this is a complete redux of my story Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness. I hope that this story gets a lot more attention than it originally did. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!  
**_

_**Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness: Chapter One: Fort Knox Invasion: **_

Moon gleaming on the evening night, with the sun just barley peaking up over below the horizon, without a cloud in the sky. A small, familiar silhouette leaped out of a ship, and darted through the island, sneakily taking out guards along the way with an orange cane—which could be either a C, or a question mark, depending on which way you hold it. He also seemed to be rather strong-being to take out each one of those elephant flashlight guard with just one hit—although rather light—being able to jump high into the air and land softly and smoothly on the ground without making any noise and attract any guard's attention.

Sylvester James Cooper sprinted faster and faster, lowering his body closer to the ground as to pick up even more speed, and eventually stopped stiff at one of the docks on the island, the only thing visible behind him, besides infinite darkness, would be splashing waves of the South Pacific Ocean, looking pure black as a result of the dark.

"Sly." Bentley whispered in on the communicator from the ship, his voice grainy and nastily. "Quadrants E-B-17, Lupon's main office is in your general direction."

Grinning, Sly responded, "And by in my general direction, you mean just ahead of me, and a couple hundred feet high in the air, right?"

"Uh…..basically, yeah." Bentley admitted. "According to my schematics of Fort Knox, Lupon's security is much greater than anything that even Dr. M. could think up for Kaine Island. It'll take the entire team to break into his fortress."

"No problem. Is everyone ready? We better take a role call." Sly suggested.

"Agreed." Bentley said.

"In position." Penelope exclaimed.

"I'm pumped!" Murray stammered.

"I too stand ready." Panda King confirmed.

"I am also ready." A female voice echoed, talking similarly to that of the Panda King.

"Let's do this." Guru said in his own language.

"Let's get this done!" Another female voice echoed, excitedly.

"In position, bro!" Dimitri shouted.

Let's go and get some payback, Sly Cooper!" A female voice exclaimed in an extremely slow, Louisianan accent.

"Come on Sly, let's blow shit up!" A final male voice amplified over the communicator, excitedly.

"Hold now, just take it step by step." Sly replied, and darted into the insane fortress ahead, which looked even more secure than Dr. M.'s fortress did on Kaine Island. Sly maneuvered in between and over guards, only fighting them if it's absolutely necessary.

Eventually he came to a stone wall, which was turned to rubble by some fireworks from an unknown location, which allowed Sly to proceed. The next bit of progress flowed fluently. Sly's speed and agility made it rather easy for him to maneuver in between guards and spotlights, and weave up and over lasers. Sly charged up further into the fortress, coming closer to the bright, shinning moonlight. In an attempt to compact his body mass and pick up even more speed, Sly whipped his tail around his body and lowered his center of gravity closer to the ground, which caused him to bullet to his ultimate destination. With a little bit more climbing, and Sly made it.

Before him was a huge hidden cavern, which Panda King gladly revealed with a few of his trademark fireworks, so Sly could enter stealthily. His trademark smirk quickly turned to that of an astonished gaze as he viewed what was in the cavern. Somehow, out in the middle of the ocean, someone was able to make such a huge technological marvel in this cave. On the inside edges of the mountain, leaving almost no free rock space, was tones of complicated machinery, which, Sly laments, Bentley and Penelope would probably gush at. In addition to that, there was a huge, wide device in the center, which turned Sly's amazed gaze to a smirk of victory.

"Hey gang." Sly exclaimed excitedly through the communicator, whispering. The machine before him was so tall it almost reached the top of the mountain, which must've been at least 25 stories tall, or taller. There were at least 50 or more medal appendages that strung out from the machine and attacked to some of the machinery on the rock walls, and there must've been hundreds of thousands of lights on the machinery in here, which seemed to be the only source of illumination in this cave whatsoever. And in the center of it all, a huge gate, which Sly gulped at as he walked closer to the device, still smirking.

"I found the time machine." Sly finished after a few seconds of thought. "Just as a side not though, it's even more amazing that I originally expected. George's an even bigger genius than I thought." Sly chuckled at his own joke.

"Yeah Sly, that's my brother for ya." That strange male voice spoke through the communicator, sounding exactly like Sly.

"Shotgun, you better get over here fast." Sly warned, grimly. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"On my way." This Shotgun guy confirmed, dialing out of the communicator.

Before Sly could react, and long before Shotgun could make it to Sly's location, a mysterious visitor, which Sly was only able to just barley dodge out of the way of, and still got his leg shot. As Sly looked up, he saw an angry, evil looking Black Stallion gazing at him with the most killing intent he'd ever seen in someone's eyes, Sly whispering, "The Eyes Of The Devil," before shouting, "George! I…..uh…..I found you!" Sly exclaimed, trying to sound like he's not scared, but failing horribly.

"No, Cooper, I believe it is I who found you!" George replied, not fooled by Sly's fake toughness. George was flying in a jetpack that looked exactly like Dr. M.'s.

"Shotgun, you better bring additional aid, because at this point, I think we're gonna need it!" Sly ordered, jumping out of the way of a few more of George's blasts, which appeared to be red now, before anyone could give him an answer…..and nobody did afterwards, either.

Before he shot anymore, George lowered to the ground to where he was almost touching it, and was just a little ways in front of Sly. "Cooper." He whispered, with a brief pause afterwards. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Backing away slightly, Sly responded, "Geeze, your concept of 'awhile' isn't all that long, is it? It's only been about a month or two."

Creating a sudden frown on his face, much to Sly's distaste, George replied in a dark tone, "Still, it's been far too long, Sly. But now the time has finally come, to rid the world of the Cooper Family once and for all." He said that last part with such ferocious terror that it made Sly shiver and jump back several feet, fearing that George was gonna shoot again. Instead, he flew to the top of the time machine, and attached his jetpack to a few panels and wires, still facing in Cooper's direction.

"Now Cooper, face your death at the hands of the great trillionare inventor, Professor George Lupon!" With no more words, and causing grief stricken terror to develop in Sly's huge, watery eyes, George flipped a few switches, which caused a huge black, dark ball of energy to form in front of him, generated by the machine.

It's at this time that another raccoon, followed by familiar faces, namely Bentley, Murray, Panda King, Dimitri, Penelope, Guru, and Carmelita, which was followed by a strange female cheetah and another Panda, the latter of which wearing the similar attire as the Panda King, with a fireworks bazooka on his back. Shotgun, the raccoon, looked exactly like Sly, only notably taller, and more muscular, with three swords in sheathes on his back, and a sheathed sword on each of his sides. He was also adorned in a bullet proof vest, which was odd, as it covered not only his entire chest, but the majority of his legs, arms, and neck, too. His tail was so long it stretched higher than even his head. He also had several pouches attached to his brown "vest" which contained items like shuriken and kunai knives, usually found with Japanese Ninja.

"Lupon!" Shotgun shouted, maneuvering closer to Sly, but was knocked back by a blast of the dark energy that George's machinery previously generated, and followed that up by shooting a blast at Sly, which had a much different effect, changing Sly's terrorized expression to that of not only terror, but also shock, and pain.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sly screamed as he was lifted up high into the air, concealed inside of a giant sphere of dark energy, with an insane George laughing maniacally. "What in the hell is this, you bastard!" Sly could barely say that entire thing, because of the intense pain that was flowing through his veins, which even quickly started causing his skin to bleed dark red blood, which stained his fur messily.

Without wasting any time, Shotgun leaped up high in the air up to the sphere, proving that his jumping skills and leg strength were far greater than Sly's, but his attempt to save Sly was all in vein, because all George had to do was shoot Shotgun with a dark blast, sending him hitting the ground extremely hard, involuntarily rolling back near the entrance to the cave, but quickly making his way back to his feet.

George pressed a few buttons on a panel, which caused the machine that he and Sly were on to rise through the wide opening in the top of the mountain, Shotgun and that weird cheetah woman easily scaling the pure stone wall, making their way to the top as well, both prepared to fight if need be. By this time Sly was visibly exhausted. It seems that he had lost all since of pain because of the torture he'd just been put through, because he was just laying there, shaking slightly, but he refrained from screaming, and was obviously about to go unconscious because of the unrelenting strain on his body. The blood made him look like an almost pure red raccoon, with just a few dots of grey here and there, and his cane was already completely destroyed.

"George, you…!" Shotgun began to stammer, but was shrugged off by George turning away, with the Cooper Darkness still keeping Sly in captivity, were he monkeyed with a control panel behind him.

"Listen you me, you bastard!" Shotgun insisted, not getting as much as a bat of an eyelash from George, who happily continued his work.

Blinded by the pain and agony, Sly gazed slightly up at George—the latter grinning so viciously and evilly—as the former's vision began to subside and fade, blood gushing from his mouth. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Only nothingness. Only emptiness. In a vicious attempt at saving Sly, Shotgun leaped up above the darkness sphere, terror and distress in his widened, darkened eyes, unsheathing two of the three katanas on his back, and jabbed them into the circular, powerful prison, and landed, attempting to pull it apart with force, which only resulted in his swords being destroyed, and himself being shot back down to where the Cheetah remained, wounded almost as much as Sly because he landed on the sphere.

He climbed to his feet, pulling out his third sword, gripped tightly in his bloody hand, and continued to think of a plan. He turned to the Cheetah, and asked, "Rosalina, got any ideas?" His voice was shaky and full of fear, legs bent, ready to act.

"I'd call the outburst of my Monican Mob, but they'll never be able to get here before Sly dies." She replied in a distressed feminine voice, despite her muscular features.

Once he finished his work, George turned around, and fired down some of the dark substance to block the entrance to the cave, so that the other members of the gang couldn't enter, and Sly, Rosalina, and Shotgun were trapped in the cavern with him. He then proceeded to strap a large mechanical device, with the front sticking out, looking like a large cylinder. He used it to shoot large bullets of darkness at the cliff behind Shotgun and Rosalina, sending boulders down that knocked Rosalina unconscious pretty quickly, but just damaged Shotgun—that is, the few that he was unable to dodge in his weakened state.

"Shotgun, don't you ever know when to give up?" George bellowed in a low, monotone expression, turning his grin to a frown. "You were always a pain in the ass brother, even as children. How pathetic though, here you are, the great master thief Shotgun Lupon, defeated at the hands of your YOUNGER brother." His tone grew even more angry. "There's no way you will weasel your way out of this predicament…..and as for your little friend here," his gaze drew down Sly, unconscious by now, "the same goes for him as well. All of you will die on this island. Of that, I am certain."

Shotgun beamed his sight up at his younger brother, George Lupon, unsure of what his next move should be, transfixed by these turn of events. Rosalina woke up, coming to her feet quickly after seeing what happened while she was out, hurrying over to Shotgun's position. Before either of them could react, they were shot by George by the largest blast of dark energy yet, knocking them both back into the wall, leaving both of them unable to get to their feet like they did before. They then just laid there. Hopeless. Helpless. Left for dead.

_**A/N: Well, this is chapter one. I know, huge cliffy, right!? Well, it'll only get even more confusing in the future, so I hope you're prepared! Anyways, see ya later! ** _


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Alright, here's chapter two! R&R! A much longer chapter than last time,s o I hope you enjoy it!  
**_

_**Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness: Chapter Two: Cops And Robbers: **_

_Tokyo, Japan, Midnight: _

One lone raccoon hustled among the rooftops, wielding a large blue shock pistol, determination in his eyes. "Criminals topside," he exclaimed into a communicator, panting and out of breath, jumping down on top of a police car racing through the busy streets of Tokyo, Japan. As the police car swiftly turned around corner after corner, almost tipping over as it did, Sly stuck his position on top of it without falling off, jumping from cop car to cop car, trying to be the first officer to capture the criminals, his grey fur shinning in the morning moon as he leaped ahead. Eventually he made it to the first criminal's vehicle, while his partner made her way to the second. Sly, while wielding his shock pistol, was dressed in a standard constable's uniform, which consisted of a blue flak jacket, with the Tokyo Interpol Badge on the front, visible as day. His partner on the other hand, who was Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, was adorned in the standard Captain's uniform, which was basically the same, except the flak jacket was red instead of blue. With swiftness, Carmelita landed on the vehicle just ahead of Sly's target vehicle.

The drivers began swerving to knock them off, but to no avail. Street passersby dodged away from the out of control vehicles, as Sly jumped to the front of his target car, which was simultaneously maneuvering to the front of the chase, in front of Carmelita's target. Sly pulled out his trademark cane, which he lamented he hasn't used in about a year, and rarely uses anymore, and started smashing on the windshield, which was surprisingly resilient. Probably made of plexy-glass, or something. After the Cooper Vault Job ended in failure, Sly gave his cane, the theivieus raccoonus, and the rest of his thieving gear to Bentley. Man, how he missed the gang. About a year ago he broke into Bentley and Penelope's house to steal the cane back, almost getting caught. It took about 3 minutes to get one crack on the window, but Sly kept at it. It was only made easier when the dumbass criminals starting firing regular gunshots through the windshield, shattering it in an attempt kill Cooper. Occasionally Sly would leap over to the other side of the car and began smashing the back windshield, to make sure he didn't get shot, and then back again, rinse and repeat, until he broke through in the back.

Once Sly completely shattered the back windshield, he jumped inside of the car, using his cane to successfully beat up the criminals inside, knocking them out the side windows. It looked like it hurt bad, must've been made of plexy-glass, too. Taking the wheel, Sly drove the car to a safe position to park on the side of the road, watching on as the car Carmelita is riding on speeds ahead. _The rest is up to her_. Sly thought as he got out of the criminal car—probably stolen car—read to handcuff and arrest the two thugs that he just defeated.

Without the cane that Sly wielded, stopping this car was as shit tone harder for Carmelita than it was for him. While dodging bullets, she pulled out a laser from her back pocket, jumped to the back windshield, and started slicing a circle into it using the cutting properties of the specific laser that she had a hold of right now. It took awhile for her to completely burn a hole in the back windshield—one large enough for her to easily slip through—because she had to weave past gunfire at the same time. She was more clumsy than Sly while jumping through the top of the car, but made up for it with her ability to stick the landing skillfully, so she still never fell off. When she finished, she jumped through the back and tossed the thugs out of the car, afterwards pulling the car to a safe park.

Sly and Carmelita regrouped, Carmelita leading the two criminals to be dealt with, defeated on the ground, by reinforcements, which consisted of 3 cop cars parking nearby, with sirens of other cop cars else ware, probably headed to their location as well. Sly and Carmelita regrouped with each other, panting from a job well done.

"Carm, you alright?" Sly asked in a worried tone, as she looked more tired than him, sweat trickling down her battered, bruise stricken face.

"Y-Yeah. Peachy." She replied in a slightly sarcastic tone. She had a mini-skirt attached to the bottom of her top, which her shock pistols were already sheathed under, the sheath attaching to her legs.

All of a sudden Carmelita's body went limp, and she fell flat on her face still conscious, shocking Sly. He bent down and picked her up putting one arm over his shoulder, holding his other arm around her back to carry her away, when three more cops walked in their direction in front of them, each one with Captain's hats on.

"Crieg, Fang, Barkley." Sly exclaimed in surprise, pausing for a moment, with Carmelita still in his arms. Noticing that her legs were unnecessarily dragging on the ground, Sly set her down, and picked her up again, only in cradle style, which would also make it easier for her to carry, and less heavy.

"Cooper." The Beaver, John Apallow Barkley said, stepping forward. John was wearing a standard Captain's hat and uniform, with two shock pistols sheathed on his sides, quite a bit higher than Carmelita's. He was adorned in a bullet proof vest over his uniform and brown chaps with black boots over them. "Well done once again. And Ms. Fox," he said, narrowing his gaze to the injured Carmelita, "although you appear to be wounded, I still must compliment you for completing your assignment. Very good, both of you. Crieg!" He exclaimed, looking back at the Doberman of the group.

"Yes." Crieg responded, stepping forward. Crieg was a very large Doberman, with two shock pistols sheathed in the same area that Barkley's were, and was wearing a standard Captain's uniform, with large black boots, and a small black scarf tied around his neck, with the front triangle of the scarf stretching over the front of his chest. He had a cigar sticking out of his mouth. "Captain Carmelita Montoya Fox. Constable Sylvester James Cooper."

He handed Sly some files, which was just barley to grasp onto. Crieg agreed to hold Carmelita, so that Sly could take a look at the files. The inside of the folders, to Sly's surprise and dismay, held pictures of Sly's old friends, Bentley, Penelope, Jing King, and Murray, in some unknown location on Tokyo, running from guards and dodging security. At first Sly held a concerned frown on his face, but that slowly stretched to his trademark grin as he dropped the files in his hands on the wet ground, as it started to pour harder and harder outside.

"I'm trusting you to deal with this trouble, Cooper." The last cop, Fang, stepped forward and lamented. He was a white fox, taller than Carmelita, who was wearing a standard Captain's uniform. "Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, Captain Fang Morvits Slammer, I understand." Sly said in a slightly cheery, upbeat tone of voice. "I'll take care of everything."

"Good." Fang put his hand on Sly's shoulder, and bent down to whisper quietly in Sly's ear. "Don't do anything you might regret, like betray us to your old life, Cooper. You've been so close to achieving your Inspector promotion, and I'd hate for you to waste that." He finished, and then walked away without another word, Barkely and Crieg following closely behind after Sly held back onto Carmelita again.

Sly stayed in that position for a few more seconds, deep in thought, before he started to walk away. He got in his car, laying Carmelita down gently in the back seat, and drove away back to their apartment. Sly pulled into the parking lot, and carried her up the stairs and through their apartment door which had a large bold 25 on it, and laid her down on the bed. Their apartment was very small, with one queen sized bed, a TV, a couple of lamps, and one small bathroom, and one closet, and a lot of dead space. He pulled up a chair with a medical kit, and began treating his love's wounds, scrubbing the stained blood off her skin and clothes, and patching up her scratches and bruises.

After a few minutes, Carmelita slowly began to stir from her unconscious state. Once her eyes clipped open, she started to speak, but Sly stopped her by cupping one of his hands over her lips. Carmelita reached up a hand and moved his, so she could say what was on her mind. "Sly." She whispered slowly. "What's going on here? Are we at home?"

"Yes, we are." Sly responded, continuing to treat her wounds. "We'll need to get you back into shape quickly, because things are going to get interesting around here soon, Carm."

"H-Huh?" Carmelita questioned, confused.

For a few brief moments everything was silent, Sly hesitating to finish his statement, already regretting telling her as much as he has. He knows that if she finds out that his old friends are paling around Tokyo, she'd undoubtedly want to take up leadership of a platoon to hunt them down. Her crystal eyes gleamed in the dim light on the ceiling, blinking a few times, a puzzled expression of confusion forming on her face. "Sly, what's going on?" She asked in a determined tone of voice.

With a great sigh of defeat, Sly said, "Alright." Sly paused again to collect his thoughts, then continued. "After you fell unconscious a few hours ago, Captain Fang Morvits Slammer let me in on some news. It appears," he stuttered to get the rest out, still reluctant, that some of my old teammates, most notably Bentley, Penelope, and Murray, have been spotted in Tokyo."

After his explanation, there was nothing but silence. It was difficult to discern Carmelita's new expression—either anger, or sadness, or confusion, or distress, or happiness, or uninterested—yeah, it was that confusing. All she wielded was a blank face, which looked almost emotionless. Then after awhile, she spoke up, "I see. When did they find this out?" Her tone was rather angry, but not at Sly.

"I don't know." Sly exclaimed, lying. When he read through the files, he saw the first date when they were spotted, which Fang obviously knew.

"So, what're you gonna do now, babe?" Carmelita asked, a little bit more relaxed, even rather amused. She could tell that Sly wasn't telling her everything, but for some reason didn't bring it up, almost as if she was humored by his attempt to lie to her.

By this time Sly had finished treating all of Carmelita's wounds that he could with her dressed, and sunk his head down. "I'm going to hunt them down tomorrow and bring them to justice." He said in a sad, sorrowful tone, even rather matter-of-factly. "I'm a cop now, not a thief. It's my duty as an officer of the law to bring down any criminals that I happen to come across."

"Are you sure about this, Sly?" Carmelita's tone grew steadily more concerned by the second. "After all, they're your best friends! Why don't you just let me take care of it? After all, I don't even like them that much anyways, so it'd be perfect."

"No." Sly replied, shrugging her off. "It's because they're my best friends that I have to do this. You can tag along, but I'm gonna be the one to make the arrests, understand, babe? Please." Sly begged in a whimpering tone. Makes since too that he'd want to see them again, since he hasn't seen them in over eight years.

"Fine, fine." Carmelita finally gave in sympathetically, preparing to undress so that Sly could finish treating her wounds.

The next morning, both Sly and Carmelita were at the office, Sly filing paperwork for her, and Carmelita herself working at a computer, typing away, bandaged tightly at her arms, legs, and middle body, covered by her clothes. Her shock pistols were laying on her desk, and the computer screen held a jumble of Binary that she could apparently read. Sly's cane was on his desk, not too far from Carmelita's desk.

"Sly." Carmelita exclaimed, still typing as she talked. "I've got the entire confines of Tokyo mapped. Everywhere that has a few cameras, which should be literally EVERYWHERE these days, is right here on my computer. If your friends are truly in Tokyo, we'll find them."

"Understood." Sly replied. Sly was still a bit iffy on going after his old pals—Bentley and Murray of which were his pals since they first met in the orphanage as children—but he knew that it had to be done. At least if he captured them he could be gentle with them. Sly knew that if it was anyone else, like Carmelita, or Barkley, or Fang, or Crieg, that they would be incredibly violent and possibly severely wound them, and he couldn't allow that to happen. At any costs.

Sly stood up, wrapping his tail around his body, and walked over to Carmelita, and resting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm ready."

A look of surprise crossed Carmelita's face instantly, and she responded, "So soon? Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow morning?"

"No, absolutely not." Sly said right away. "As a gang, we would never make these risky of moves during the day. It was always at night. That'll be our only chance to catch them." He turned to the window, gazing at the gleaming night of Paris, the Eiffel Tower towering in the background of the scenery. "Like I said before, you don't have to come if you don't want to. Make your decision now, babe."

Giving a great sigh of defeat, with a smile, Carmelita said, "Alright, fine. Let's get this over with."

The night air was hot and musky, fog lowering to the ground as Sly and Carmelita hopped through the rooftops of Paris. They left the cars behind, because they could cover a lot more ground this way. Sly was wielding his cane, but had his shock pistols sheathed, just in case he needed them. On their way to the local jewelry store, which is where his old gang has last been spotted, so many images rushed through his head. He pictured Bentley being paralyzed by Clock-La's beak, he pictured Murray leaving the gang once, damaged mentally about the fact that he couldn't save Bentley. He pictured Penelope and Bentley getting married and forming thieving gang of their own in Venice, Italy. He pictured Murray going off to Monaco to race for a living, making the big bucks. Yes, Sly made damn sure that he knew how his old friends were doing after the whole Cooper Vault incident. Guru headed back to the outback to continue his own spiritual training—at first taking Murray with him, until Murray finished his training—and Panda King went back to China to live with his daughter, Jing King, who, as far as I knew, remained unmarried. And Dimitri became a scuba diva expert on a cruise ship. And Sly? He became a cop, married to the woman of his dreams, Carmelita Montoya Fox, leaving his thieving background, his clan's legacy, and his pals behind, forever. He'd never fathomed the idea of encountering his old friends again, let alone having to capture them and imprison them. Not to mention, given their criminal and murderous nature, they'd likely be sentenced to death. The simple idea almost made him sick to his stomach.

As they approached the jewelry store where his old gang was supposed to be robbing, a feeling of caution came over them, and they landed on the building silently, creeping up to the ceiling windows. As they peered in, they looked at a large green crystal in a glass container, surrounded by a whole hoard of guards, laser security, and spotlight security, as well as security cameras and security turrets attached to the walls. Not to mention, the walls themselves were made of a combination of titanium, steel, metal, brick, reinforced concrete, and four inch thick bullet proof plexy glass. There was not a door or window in sight there. There was only windows on the ceiling to make sure light could enter the building during night. Sly and Carmelita both had to sneak in themselves, because they were going against direct orders from Fang himself, who told them to wait until he gave the order to head after the Cooper Gang. Carmelita wanted to honor that order, but Sly couldn't just sit back and let his old gang get lose, so they both went rather early.

Sly finished scanning the inside of the building and then gave the signal to Carmelita, who pulled a small laser pin out of her pocket, and proceeded to carefully and quietly slice a circle in one of the windows large enough for both of them to slip through when the time was right. When she was done, she dropped the laser pin on the rooftop, and quickly caught the glass piece before it fell into the building—effectively alerting the guards by shattering—with Sly's help, and set it aside. After that, Sly proceeded to leap through, latching onto the roof and walls with his cane, hastily making his way around the room. When he got to the other side, he flipped a switch, which sounded a siren, and a robotic voice came over the intercom and said, "ATTENTION ALL GUARDS! A MEETTING HAS BEEN CALLED! PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEETTING HALL IMMEDATELY! THAT IS ALL!"

After the guards finished clearing from the building, Sly dropped down, landing on one of the few locations that aren't surrounded by laser and/or spotlight security. Before he gets caught by the turrets and cameras, he leaped up high in the air, smashing each one to bits with his cane, before landing. He then proceeded to do the same to the spotlight generators and laser generators, which took awhile longer, because there was more of them scattered around the room. After he was finished with the security, he motioned for Carmelita to jump down with him, which she did, walking up to his position.

Giving him a marveled smirk, impressed by his work, she said, "Nice work ringtail."

"All in a day's work." Sly responded. After he did, his attention quickly shifted as he heard a noise from the other side of the only noticeable door in this entire room. The noise sounded like a wheel chair, which made Sly instantly suspect that it was Bentley and the others, so both him and Carmelita jumped their way back to the top of the building to hide, keeping out of sight from the entering thieves.

When the door opened, it indeed was his old gang—Bentley, Murray, and Penelope—who showed up; but they were surprised to see that Jing King was also with them. Although Carmelita had never actually seen Jing King's actual appearance, she figured that it must be her, because of how much she looked almost exactly like the Panda King, the only difference being that she's female instead of male. Bentley, green as ever, was strolling in his wheel chair that's he's been unfortunately confined in since the whole Clock-La incident, and his helmet on his head. Murray was wearing his trademark cape, mask, and gloves. Penelope was wearing her trademark white outfit and glasses on her face. And Jing King was wearing a similar wardrobe that her father wore during the whole Fiendish Five incident, with a much larger fireworks bazooka on her back. The only two mysteries here are as follows—why is Sly's old gang showing up here all of a sudden, and why in the blistering fuck is Jing King with them.

Sly jumped back in quickly, pulling out both of his shock pistols to point at them, and shouting, "FREEZE, CRIMINALS!" Catching all four of them off guard. Bentley's pale green eyes widened, and Murray's jaw dropped, while Penelope and Jing King tried to keep their distance—Jing King looking like she was struggling to remember who exactly Sly was. Sly's position remained firm, his legs bent and stiff, his fingers on his pistol's triggers.

"S-Sly!? Is that you!?" Bentley exclaimed breaking the silence, with his usual nastily voice. He tried to wheel forward, but Sly maneuvered one of his shock pistol's more directly at Bentley, which caused him to wheel backward again.

"I'm sorry Bentley." Sly apologized. "If we ever met again, I was hoping it would be under different conditions than this. But I'm afraid that all four of you are under arrest. I promised Interpol that I was bring you Cooper Gang in, and not allow my old emotions to get in the way. Trust me; I'm being nice compared to what anyone else would do." He motioned for Carmelita to join him, who did, preparing her shock pistols, positioned just a few feet behind Sly.

"Sly, we can't find you!" Murray insisted, but Sly was not phased at all, much to Carmelita's favor, who allowed a smile to cross her face.

"You don't have to." Sly said. "All you have to do is just allow yourselves to be arrested right now. But first," he said, slightly changing the subject. "What are you three doing here in the first place, after eight years?"

The next few seconds were full of hesitant silence, before Penelope spoke up. "I'll tell him, Bentley." She exclaimed, and started to explain. "There are a couple reasons we came. First, to collect all those crystals that you see behind you," she pointed to the crystal contained behind Sly. "There's five of them in Tokyo, and that's the last one. However, the other," she stuttered to explain the rest, "we were hoping that you would rejoin the gang, Sly." She gulped as she said this. She expected that would earn herself paralyzing by his shock pistols, but no…..Carmelita almost did, but Sly stopped her by resting his hand on hers, and looking her in the eyes, which caused her to lower her pistols.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't." He informed. "Not after all these years, not after all I've accomplished with my new life. But tell me, what makes you come here and try to get me back after all these years?"

"Our new Fort Knox job, Sly." Bentley answered, knowing what the current answer would be now, because of his matter-of-fact tone of voice. "But I see were wrong to trust our best friend, weren't we, buddy."

"I." Sly's speech slurred. He was struggling to run back to his thieving life again—effectively leaving Carmelita behind forever—or abandon his friends—effectively arresting them and probably sentencing them to death. "I guess so." He made his final decision, preparing to attack.

With no more words, Bentley boosted up high above both Sly and Carmelita—higher than he's ever been able to go before—and landed on the other side, grabbing a few bombs from the inside of his wheel chair. Murray also charged in to clear the way saying, "Sorry Sly, but FEAR THE MURRAY!" Sly and Carmelita both dodged out of the way of the rampaging Murray, who joins Bentley, giving Penelope and Jing way to join them as well. Sly and Carmelita gave chase, as Bentley blew a hole in the wall, effectively creating an escape for all of them. Sly and Carmelita both continued to follow them through the rainy streets of Tokyo, firing their shock pistols, Sly as determined as ever. Even more determined, it would seem, than even Carmelita, surprisingly enough. Or maybe not too surprising. His current level of angst and solitary mindset was incredible, even for Sly, as he darted after Bentley. He wanted to be the one to capture the turtle, because of his wheel chaired state.

Sly landed in front of Bentley, who instantly detonated some explosives he laid previously, which allowed him to escape and throw Sly for a loop without injuring him. The four wanted thieves continued to escape in different directions, Bentley explaining to them that they can reunite with the Guru at the van for the escape—the Guru of which is supposed to be protecting the van with his dreamtime mystic abilities and magical powers. Bentley headed fast, with a far enhanced adrenaline burst, to the outskirts of Tokyo, with Sly hot on his tale. Penelope flew high hanging onto her RC Chopper, with Carmelita following closely behind. It was because of this that Murray and Jing King, being the lowest of the bunch, was able to escape to the van safely. Both of them arrived almost at the same time, and hopped in, shutting the back door to the van behind them, saying hello to the Guru. The van was parked in a huge pile of bushes on the outskirts of town, which would explain why Bentley and Penelope are heading in that direction. Guru, excited to see his fellow comrades in crime still in one piece—especially Murray, for obvious reasons—was dressed in red underwear this time instead of brown, and was wielding his trademark staff, with the purple moonstone wrapped around it. The van was turned off, as to not attract enemy attention.

Bentley sped into a tight corridor and continued escaping. Hurriedly running after his old friend, Sly saw in the far distance a brick wall dead end. Aimed his shock pistol upward and fired many shots to the sides of the buildings, destroying them, sending rubble down blocking any way to escape in the opposite direction. After that, Sly super jumped to the other side of Bentley, blocking the rock wall off that he could've normally probably easily laid bombs, pointing his shock pistol in victory at his pal.

"It's over Bentley." Sly exclaimed, making his way closer.

Bentley started to wheel backward, eventually bumping into the rubble dumped on the ground, finding there's no way for him to escape.

"Sly, come to your senses! You know this isn't what you actually want to do!" Bentley retorted trying to find a favoring result, which only caused Sly to further glare at him, slowly stepping even closer.

"I thought we've been over this." Sly said. "I can't join the gang again. I have such a great life now. I can't give it up."

"Like you gave up your legacy!?" Bentley exclaimed with venom in his tone, catching Sly off guard.

Sly hesitated in place for a moment, images of their adventures flashing through his mind as Bentley watches, a deep gaze of sadness crossing his face. "Bentley, I….."

"Don't you miss any of it Sly?" Bentley questioned. "The thieving, the stealing, and the escaping? Don't you ever regret becoming a cop?"

"Of course I do." Sly said right away. "I'll often have dreams that the gang is back together again, stealing from places all over the world, making quick getaways and never getting caught." He explained, lowering his shock pistol, straightening his bent legs. "I never regretted any of the time that we spent together Bentley. I loved it."

"Then…." Bentley said, but then got cut out by Sly.

"However, you know how much I've always loved Carmelita." Sly continued, bending his knees again, and pointing his shock pistol at Bentley again. "For years I always flirted with her, but never summoned up the courage to take it to the next step. Now I've been given the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with her, and there's no way that I could ever give it up."

"But Sly, your legacy!" Bentley continued to pester. "Don't you think your father would be ashamed of you?"

"Don't go there Bentley." Sly exclaimed, more serious than Bentley had ever seen him, ready to strike again.

Bentley's tone turned grim as he sighed and super boost hovered with his chair over Sly's head, just barley managing to reach the top of the building, and turned around looking down before he made his leave. "Sly, I'm sorry you feel this way. Perhaps I'll be able to convince you sometime later, but for now, I have to make my leave back to the van."

As Bentley quickly made hast, Sly gave chase once again, but soon after lost Bentley, who secretly made his way back around to the bushes where the van was parked, only to see that the Guru had already escaped the cops, and was resting in the van from a long winded getaway, which was still off, as to not attract attention from guards. The bush was surprisingly big enough to house the entire van, even though that the van was seemingly larger than before. Bentley's attire consisted of his green shell and helmet, but his wheel chair was painted red. The Guru was wearing his normal attire, which consisted only of brown underwear, and nothing else. He was holding his trademark staff, with a string wrapping the purple Moon Stone around it firmly. The only difference about the van was its size, seemingly, as well as its color, which appeared to be painted blue.

Bentley safely hopped into the back of the van before any of the traveling, now alerted guards saw him, and slammed it tightly, quickly hopping onto his computer, to monitor the action from his satellites currently in outer space, as the Guru sat quietly in the back seat. Murray was still fleeing from Carmelita, surprisingly fast, all the while taking out any other guards that may get in his way as well.

"FEAR, THE MURRAY!" He exclaimed as he plowed through all the guards and cops that made the mistake of getting in his path, using his ball form to cause himself go much faster and faster. "GET OUT OF MY WAY, PEASENTS! THE MURRAY IS A GOD AMONG YOU! SURRENDER, FLEE, AND WILLOW IN FEAR AND TERROR AT MY AWESOME, UNDEFEATABLE MIGHT AND STRENGTH AND STUFF!"

Sly soon after joined Carmelita in the chase, but Murray was almost back at the van by the time that happened.

"What happened to your chase?" Carmelita questioned, almost out of breath. "Don't tell me the wheel chaired turtle escaped you."

"He did." Sly confirmed. "He escaped back to the van. And don't underestimate him just because he's in a wheel chair, Carm. That would be a huge mistake for you to do." Sly was also almost out of breath.

Murray arrived back at the van, and hopped inside, slamming the door behind him, and took over the wheel, which saw that Guru, Bentley, and now Jing King were already in the van. Without wasting any time, Murray exclaimed, "PUNCH IT," slamming hard down on the gas, and sped away, leaving a trail of dust and smoke in his wake. The dust and smoke caught Sly and Carmelita off guard, causing them to have to cough and hack so much that they lost the van, and were unable to catch them as a result.

"Damn." Sly whispered under his breath, making his way to his feet, letting out a hand to help Carmelita up, who gratefully accepted it.

"The hell was that all about?" Carmelita questioned, looking at Sly, who just shrugged his shoulders, mainly because he was pretty much in a daze now.

Sly looked up at the sky, was beginning to tint with a slight reddish tone. "I don't know what's going on Carmelita. But for some reason, I'm starting to get a bad omen. Almost as if…..as if, my friends showing up now is some sort of a sign that something terrible is about to happen. I'm really worried."

Carmelita smiled and patted Sly on the back. "Don't worry Sly, nothing's gonna happen." She tried to reassure, which did little to nothing at all. "Your old gang is just back to their old tricks, I'm sure that's it. Just try to get it all out of your head. We'll get them eventually."

"Y-Yeah." Sly tried to agree, shaking his head with a weak smile, but wasn't too convinced himself…..and the truth was, neither was Carmelita, and Sly could tell, because of how weak her smile was in return. Both of them could tell, but just kept smiling, hoping in vein that she was right. But something in them knew that things would get much worse in the future.

Murray was, at this moment, driving the van to the outskirts of Tokyo where the safe house was at, with Bentley still working on his computer, and both Guru and Jing still sitting in the back seat quietly.

"Well, that was a bust." Bentley pointed out, bringing up some decrypted files on his computer. "It looks like we're going to have to delve deeper into this place's Interpol in order to get Sly back for the big operation."

"What is that you have there?" Guru asked, in his own language.

"Files on a few of the other cops here that we'll need to look out for." Bentley answered, and then began to explain himself. "The first one here is Captain Crieg Calon. This Doberman is equipped with two shock pistols, and is known for rapid fire assault, and being capable of taking out armies of criminals single handedly, so we'll need to watch out for him."

Bentley pulled up another file, and continued. "Next there's Captain John Apallow Barkley. This dog has three shock pistols, and is one of the strongest and most physically fit in all of Interpol."

He pulled up another file, and continued. "Next is the tiger Robert Von Romaro, who's also known as 'The Great Tiger Of Interpol." He's so skilled, that anyone from a huge mafia who comes here is normally told to flea immediately once they see him, because they cannot win. That's definitely something to take note of. He comes especially equipped with three shock pistols, and two whips."

Bentley pulled up another couple of files at once. "There's also Officer Tim Parker and Constable Willow Bodgan. They're two low ranked officers, with one shock pistol each, but nobody here should be taken lightly, understand?" Everyone shook their heads once Bentley asked this question very seriously, after he pestered them enough.

Bentley pulled up two more files, one of the white fox seen earlier, and one of a burley hippo. "And the final two are the two heads of Interpol for the entire world, Jim Coheed—the second in command, and the burley hippo—and Fang Morvits Slammer—the white fox, and the ultimate leader." Bentley sighed, and continued. "Since those two are the leaders, then I don't think I need to explain to how all how dangerous they are, and how we should avoid them at all costs, if we can."

Murray's face turned low and sad as he pulled into the safe house parking lot—which was just a wooden shack with no windows—images of Sly flashing through his head—his old best friend—as everyone got out of the van and entered the safe house, ready to formulate a new plan to acquire Sly.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And remember to R&R! I've got some people's opinions on it, but I want more, and please remember to review on the actual story, rather than just sending me a PM via ! Thanks! See you in chapter three!


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hey everyone, here's chapter three! I was hoping to get a lot more of this story done before Sly 4 was released, but clearly that didn't happen, because Sly 4's supposed to come out TODAY! Anyways, I'm still going to continue this story though, (obviously), and I hope that you enjoy this chapter! See ya!  
**_

_**Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness: Chapter Three: Bentley's Decisive Procedure: **_

Hazy sky drifts, seemingly touching the dark ground from afar, the Cooper Van parked in the parking lot of the safe house, with Penelope, Bentley, Murray, and Jing King inside their safe sanctuary, continuing to plot a scheme to acquire Sly back onto the team. The clock read 12:00 Midnight, which was six hours after the previous chase, proof that the gang had been awake ever since then. Bentley and Penelope were at work on their laptops, with Jing King crafting fireworks on the couch, and Murray training with his punching bags on the other side of the room, in preparation for when they have to head out again.

_This doesn't make any sense._ Bentley thought, gazing at the data he brought up on his laptop. _No matter how much I scan Tokyo, I can't find a probable location to break in. All the rooftops near Interpol are mounted with tones of laser shooting satellite dishes—which will also perfectly scan for incoming aircrafts, so they know what to shoot at—and the grounds are filled with way too many guards for even us to take out on our own._ He looked up to Murray and Jing King, sighing. _Murray's the one of the strongest men I've ever met, and Jing King's abilities with fireworks rivals even her father's, surprisingly enough, but even with their help, I just don't think we could make it. What to do, what to do._ Bentley worried, with an agitated expression on his face.

"Babe, you alright?" Penelope shook Bentley out of his disturbed trance, concerned for him.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine, hun." Bentley exclaimed, smiling, but he wasn't fooling Penelope.

Bentley kept hastily working as he continued to scan Tokyo, showing a shocking rise in security from previous adventures. Out of the ten buildings that make up Tokyo's Interpol, each building is littered with security cameras and turrets, seemingly from head to toe, on every side. Spotlights and lasers crowded the alleyways, and guards filled the streets, each carrying rocket launchers and flashlights, as well as adorned in full plated metal body armor.

"Penelope." Bentley said suddenly, shifting his view to her, sitting on the couch behind the desk that he was working at. "I've got an idea." He exclaimed, with a bit more of a brighter expression than he had before.

"Well it's about time." Penelope replied cheerfully.

"Do you remember that work we talked about on your RC Chopper?" Bentley asked with a thoughtful look, pulling out a bomb from his wheel chair.

"Hm…..yeah, I remember that. Didn't you say we should give up on that project because we couldn't get the link generator in the van to work properly?"

"Yes well, I think I just thought of a way to make it work right." He responded, showing Penelope the bomb he had in his hand. "And it all has to do with this."

"Uh…..Bentley, I don't it's a good idea to blow up the link generator in the van, which is powered by metal nitroglycerine." Penelope exclaimed humorously.

Shaking his head, Bentley replied in his nastily voice, "No silly, this is the key to making the generator work. Come with me." He said, and then the two of them exited the safe house, and headed over to the van, in the parking lot.

Bentley and Penelope both hopped in the back of the van, shutting the doors behind them, and Bentley began to work on the generator. The generator that Bentley spoke of was large enough to cover the entire left side of the Cooper Van, covering up the windows completely, and reached the ceiling in height. There was all sorts of wires and cables attached from the van to the generator, messily tucked behind the generator for safe keeping, and all sorts of lights blinking on and off constantly on the generator itself. Bentley wheeled in front of the gleaming generator, took a pair of scissors out of his chair, and started cutting wires.

"Let's see here, gotta be careful." He said as he was concentrating. "Cut the blue wire, yellow wire, red wire, green wire, blue wire, orange wire, orange wire….." He whispered as he commenced to cut the wires, in that order.

He cut enough wires to make a small place for the bomb to just barley squeeze in. He takes it out of Bentley's hand and carefully places it into position, and then continues to tie the cut wires together again over top of the bomb, making sure not to tie them too hard, as to not make the bomb explode on them. He then took some duck tape out of his chair and tapped over it with three layers of tape to make sure it would stay, and then took a breath of relief that he was finally done, and had succeeded safely. Taking out a rag from his wheel chair and whipping the sweat off his face, he turns his attention to Penelope to explain the plan to her finally.

"Alright babe, here's the deal." He exclaimed with a satisfied expression on his face. "It's very simple. The mechanical waves in this machine match the mechanical waves in my bombs. With each waves matching and connecting to each other, that should provide the final component needed to make the generator work properly. Understand?"

"Y-Yeah, I got it." She replied with enlightenment in her voice. "Bentley, you're a genius!"

"I know, I know." Bentley said with a smile on his face.

Bentley and Penelope quickly headed back inside, to find that Jing King was laying on the couch to rest up a bit, and Murray was still training with his punching bags. The safe house was filthy with the remains of many punching bags that he'd already destroyed, and he was almost out of them now. Bentley wheeled over to his laptop, which he'd left on, and started typing up the plan he'd just conceived in a notes document so he didn't forget what to do next. Penelope went and sat on a rocking chair behind Bentley, waiting for him to explain things.

After awhile, he said, "Alright guys, we're ready to make our next move." He exclaimed, excitedly. "Penelope and I just got the link generator in the van to work properly, so now it's time to strike. With any luck, we'll be able to convince Sly to rejoin with us again, too." Still typing on his laptop, he said, "Here's the plan. First, Penelope, I'll need you to use a radio link to connect your RC Chopper AND RC Car to the generator in the back of the van, and send them into enemy territory…..aka, Interpol Grounds. The radio pulse that is connected to the RC Vehicles of yours should keep them undetectable from the views of any of the electronic security…..however, you're still gonna have to be careful to not get spotted by guards, or the entire operation is a bust."

"That's a wonderful idea, Bentley." Penelope exclaimed. "With the radio pulse active, as long as I can avoid guards, I should be able to easily search for Sly with no problems." Her excited expression suddenly turned rather worried. "However, there's still something that I don't get. Bentley, last time we confronted Sly, he refused to join back up with us again, because he wanted to stay with Carmelita. I doubt she's even aware of his amnesia. How should we go about convincing him?"

With an embarrassed frown, Bentley replied, "Actually, I have yet to figure that part out. The rest is going to have to be improvised." Coughing a few times, he continued, "All of us will remain here at the safe house until Sly's located, and then drive the van to his location. With the generator placed in the back of the van, the radio pulses that it sends out should also prevent it from being spotted by security as well."

"You're a genius, Bentley!" Penelope responded in astonishment.

Bentley replied humorously, "That's what I keep telling people."

"Just give us our orders, and we shall follow." Jing King exclaimed generously, gazing over at Murray, who returned a wide smile back at everyone.

Bentley wheeled over to the window and observed that the sun was slowly setting, and he gave a small grin, satisfied. "Alright, let's do it then. I know we just got back a little while ago, but the sun is gradually going down, which makes it the perfect time for our assault. Penelope, you know what to do. Send out your RC Car, and I'll send out your RC Chopper." Bentley pointed to his laptop. "We'll be able to easily view the battlefield from my laptop."

Bentley and Penelope sat down, Penelope pulling up a chair, and began getting to work. As Bentley typed on his computer, the van outside began to glow brightly, and so did five satellites in space that Bentley must've sent up prior to their current mission in preparation to use their new technology. This also caused the van to start up automatically, and specific commands appeared on the van's control module, which also appeared on Bentley's computer, in some binary format, or some other computer format, that only Bentley and Penelope are able to read.

Murray and Jing were now just sitting down on the couch next to each other, awaiting further instructions from Bentley, the latter and Penelope immediately got to work. Bentley flew the RC Chopper to the appropriate destination, Penelope transported the RC Car to a nearby destination, and Bentley typed on his computer automatic coordinates for the van, which automatically sped to yet another nearby destination, smoke rustling hurriedly out of the van's back steam pipe.

The van sped through the streets of Tokyo, straight onto Interpol grounds, the cloaking device keeping it safe from spotlight and laser detection, just like Bentley previously explained that it would, but of course avoiding being spotted by most guards, but also crashing into some guards when needed, killing them instantly with some retractable blades that Bentley and Penelope seems to have installed sometime recently. When it got in position, a satellite popped out of a hole placed in the top of the van, which started to spin and send out a strange radio signal for Bentley and Penelope, which told them that it's time for their phase.

Bentley maneuvered his RC Chopper in and out of automated turrets and security cameras attached to walls—the only security besides guards that the radio signals the van was producing couldn't protect them from—taking them out where need be by dropping bombs and using his forward cannon. He'd also occasionally use the RC Chopper's installed Yank86 to take care of guards to make the ground safer for travel, and had prepared to detonate the chopper should anyone discover their plan. The brainiack turtle continued his journey through Interpol grounds, until he made it to a particular building with two interesting cops—Captain Crieg Calon and Inspector John Apallow Barkley—chatting with each other. Bentley kept the chopper far enough in distance away from the building so that the two officers couldn't see it, and started listening in to their conversation with the chopper's long range microphone.

"Inspector Barkley, this is an outrage!" Crieg protested with great rage induced anger, setting his hands on his shock pistols. "How dare you defy his master in such a defiant and disrespectful way?! I should take you into him right now and….."

"And what!?" Barkely interrupted, just as mad. "Have me be fatally punished for telling the god damn truth!?" As he talked, Crieg gritted his teeth, getting even more crazed. "His master is crazy, and you know it! Ordering us to plant these bombs throughout Interpol's undergrounds just because we're inside agents! We're not bomb experts, by any means!" He flung his arms up in the air in rage. "If we mess up even slightly, we'll be dead, and he doesn't even seem to give a shit!"

"Why should he?" Crieg questioned irrationally. "Our job in all of this is to serve his master, and to make his dream become a reality! We are his tools, disposable pawns that he can do with what he pleases! Don't you understand that!?"

"Of course I do…..but still." Barkely started to calm down a little bit, and, as a result, so did Crieg. Crieg kept starring at him for a few minutes for Barkley to respond, the latter's large mustache hiding his still obvious frown. "I just don't know how much longer his master's going to have use for us." He finally exclaimed in his deep voice.

"THAT is irrelevant, 'Inspector'." He said that last word in a partially sarcastic tone of voice, then pulled out his left shock pistol, and pointed it at Barkley, finger on trigger. "Just remember your place, understand? We'd all hate for anything to have to happen to you for insubordination." He threatened with grave seriousness and severity.

"Yes, I understand, Captain." Barkley exclaimed in a worried tone, refraining from looking his Captain directly in the eyes, purely out of fear.

Full of shock and dismay, Bentley continued searching for Sly with the RC Chopper, hurrying a little bit faster this time. He recorded the entire conversation, which would hopefully give him a break and allow him to easily convince Sly to rejoin back up with them again. Discovering where Sly was patrolling at wasn't too difficult. He was patrolling through Tokyo Circle, accompanied by fifty other cops, of which included Officer Tim Parker and Constable Willow Bodgan from the file images shown to the gang before at the safe house. Although Sly appeared to be leading the patrol unit, he was in the center, with every other cop surrounding him for protection, each with their individual weapons drawn—for most being shock pistols, but also some regular hand guns and whips drawn as well—and covered the entire street. Security has likely increased ever since the Cooper Gang was spotted in Tokyo, and everyone seems to be tense.

Bentley tried taking out one cop with the Yank86, which had him accidentally catch the notice of literally everyone else in the patrol, as well as a few other cops and guards elsewhere, putting his RC Chopper under fire. Maneuvering swiftly, barley taking any damage for a time, Bentley refrained from using the time consuming Yank86 on the cops and guards, and instead used his ultra powerful blue bombs on the ground forces, and his forward cannon on the forces on jet packs. He seemed to be doing rather wonderful for the first few minutes, until Sly himself got involved in the battle, noticing that it was the Cooper Gang's RC Chopper immediately. With one shock pistol blast he shot the Chopper to the ground, and then hurried over to acquire the fallen attack vehicle.

_Bentley, what're you thinking?_ Sly thought in a worried, and yet slightly angry tone of voice. "Tim!" Sly exclaimed as he turned around, and Officer Tim Parker rushed over to his position.

In a German ancient, Tim replied, "Yes, Constable Cooper, what can I do for you, sir?"

"I want you to take this back to headquarters." Sly explained, handing the damaged RC Chopper to Tim. "I know for a fact that it belongs to the Cooper Gang. I remember it well. I want Research And Development to hopefully rewire it so we can find out their hideout, and perhaps even use it for our side."

"I understand, no problem Constable." Tim agreed, and headed away quickly.

As the rest of the remaining cops and guards also cleared out, in fear that the Cooper Gang may still be nearby, Sly just stood there, lost in thought, pondering how he's going to explain this to Carmelita. He'd promised Carm that he would be able to deal with this whole Cooper Gang situation without succumbing to his old emotions and memories, but from the beginning he'd wondered how true that all was. Cooper couldn't help but think about the good ol' days, images of their hold heists flashing through his head—their job against the Fiendish Five, fighting Raleigh, fighting Muggshot, fighting Ruby, fighting Panda King, fighting Clockwerk, their job against the KLAWW Gang, fighting Dimitri, fighting Rajan, fighting Contessa, fighting Jean Bison, fighting Neyla, fighting Arpeggio, fighting Clock-La, their job for the Cooper Vault, fighting Octavio, fighting The Mask Of Dark Earth, fighting The Black Baron, fighting LeFwee, fighting Tsao, acquiring new members to the gang, fighting Dr. M., getting so close to the Cooper Vault…..and then watching everything crash down before their very eyes, and the gang splitting up, for over eight years now—there's parts of Sly that, of course, loved his new life, because he got to be with Carmelita Fox, the woman that he'd loved for so many years, but there was of course that other part of him that hated his new life, because he had to leave his friends, his gang, and his legacy behind in the dust.

An Interpol vehicle then drove up and halted next to where Sly was standing, and out of it marched Barkley and Carmelita, rushing over to Sly in a hurry to confirm the situation.

"Sly!"

"Cooper!"

Carmelita shouted the first, and Barkley shouted the latter, both in unison, who looked both relieved and worried to see them at this moment. Carmelita gave Sly a large, lasting hug and kiss on the cheek when she reached him, and Barkley remained in his rather firm position, right in front of Sly.

"Cooper." Barkley said after a moment of silence. "I'm glad you're alright. We heard explosions over here, what the hell happened?"

Sly gave a huge sigh, not ready for the explaining which would likely piss both of them off even further, worrying them yet again. "It's the Cooper Gang, Inspector. They don't seem very intent on leaving just yet. I just gave Bentley's RC Chopper to Tim, who's going to take it to Research And Development to analyze."

"That damn gang…..tries to take my Sly away from me….." Carmelita said under her breath, and then spoke out loud, "Let's go Sly," and started walking away.

"What're?" Sly asked, but was cut off by Carm.

"We're going to go find the Cooper Gang." She demanded. "If they're allowed to remain in Tokyo any longer, then there's no telling what the fuck they'll get away with. We have to take them down now, together!"

Carm waited in place for Sly's respond, until he finally said, "Y-Yes, I understand, Captain. We better deal with this ourselves. I'm sure Captain Slammer won't mind that we abandoned our posts, as long as we return with the remaining members of the Cooper Gang." Sly exclaimed confidently, and started walking away with Carmelita. Sly turned his head back to Barkley and said, "Inspector, be sure to notify Fang and Robert where we're heading, alright?"

"Understood Constable, right away." Barkley agreed and headed off, in which Carmelita and Sly also headed off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, back at the safe house, Bentley completed his mission with shock, confusion, and great dismay.

"Penelope, did you hear that conversation?" He asked, slightly apprehensive.

"Loud and clear, Bentley. But what could it mean?" She questioned.

"I don't know…..yet." Bentley responded. "But what I do know is that we need to act fast, before those bombs go off." He started to explain. "Babe, I'm currently pinpointing all of the bombs. Their appears to be fifty of them total. You'll need to use the new equipment that we've added to your RC Car to deactivate them before they explode. After that, we'll need to confront both Sly and Carmelita with the recorded conversation, and see if this convinces them to join us."

"Roger that, commencing search." Penelope answered, as Bentley downloaded the data into her RC Car, and Penelope herself immediately got to work.

Penelope sped her RC Car through Tokyo, until she got to the designated location, and then activated a drill on the front of it, which allowed her to dig underground in order to be able to find all of the bombs that were planted for destruction. Penelope's RC Car has an automated tracking system installed, which took the form of a grid-like screen on the top. The car itself appeared as a red dot, and all the bombs appeared as blue dots. The RC Car tuned its way through the underground of Tokyo, surprisingly fast, deactivating each one of the bombs individually. This process was still rather time consuming, however, because she had to plug cables from her car into the bomb and deactivate it by overriding it manually, while simultaneously preventing it from inserting a virus into her laptop, which would cause it to explode…..so yeah, it was pretty grim indeed.

After she deactivated all fifty of the bombs, she dug her RC Car to the surface, which happened to be right next to the van's location. Using her laptop from the safe house, she manually opened up the van's back doors, drove the car into the van, and then closed the doors, keeping it safe. Back at the safe house, a satellite on the roof started spinning and making a low beeping noise.

"Excellent!" Bentley exclaimed in excitement, wheeling around to the rest of the gang—which unfortunately, at the moment, only consisted of himself, Penelope, Jing, and Murray. "Alright guys, let's head out right now!" He explained. "It's time that we headed to the van in the midst of enemy territory, but we need to hurry! The cloaking radio signal that the van is sending out will cloak us for a little while, but the signal itself will only last for a little while longer before it'll deplete."

Following Bentley's elite direction, everyone else followed him out of the safe house, and they quickly made it into the inner workings of Tokyo, weaving in and out of the city, avoiding guards, but they indeed were temporarily impervious to spotlights and lasers, until they arrived at the van, and hopped inside of it. The van was in a location that there were no spotlights or lasers or guards patrolling, so even when the radio signal went offline, they'd still be safe, at least for the time being.

Bentley pressed a few buttons on a control panel in the van, which caused it to automatically disguise itself with different blue and red metal, and an Interpol Logo, looking exactly like and Interpol Van. This would aid them so that, if the van is detected, they won't be completely sold out. Bentley also opened up a suit case, revealing some police uniforms for all of them, and shook his head, satisfied, so they'd have costumes for jobs.

"Penelope, you almost done? We need to go show this recording to Sly and Carmelita." He said in a hurry.

"Just about. I'm currently pinpointing every major building in all of Tokyo Interpol, and transferring the data over to your Wheel Chair Laptop." She explained, earning herself a smile from Bentley in pleasure.

"I have finished crafting fireworks Bentley; I am now ready for action." Jing King explained excitedly, with a maniacal tone, similar to how her father's always was.

Murray, suspiciously more silent than his usual peppy self, just gazed at the other three, smiled, and nodded, also seemingly ready for action. Bentley was the first to leave the van, heading out immediately, maneuvering himself through Tokyo, in between guards. He'd sleep dart guards and bomb them if he had to, but he liked to avoid it if he was able to because that would also attract the attention of nearby guards and cops, thus slowing down his progress tremendously, because the streets were literally flooded with guards and cops at this point. Interpol appeared to be getting incredibly paranoid now. Bentley quickly found Sly and Carmelita patrolling the guards together, and didn't waste any time confronting them, who were both increasingly shocked by his sudden act of such bravery, but also pumped up to be the ones to capture him.

"Freeze, thief!" Carmelita shouted in her generic, angry tone of voice, shooting a few times, which Bentley managed to dodge with ease. She was about to fire continuously, but Sly set a hand on her wrist, successfully calming her rage down with the charm in his sparkling, chocolate brown eyes.

"Bentley." Sly said softly, looking with decent at his former best friend and thieving comrade, who looked back with similar disdain, but mostly confusion. "What're you doing here? I never figured you as the type to attack an enemy head on. I always thought that as Murrays' gig." This last line actually caused himself to smirk his trademark smirk and subconsciously chuckle out loud, much to Carmelita's obvious distaste. Bentley also smirked at this, sensing his old friend's personality trying to peak its way out of its currently dormant state.

Getting straight to the point, Bentley responded, "Normally I wouldn't, but this is urgent! I've got something to show you guys! Let's just say, there's some traitors within Interpol!"

Carmelita tried to act rashly, like always, but Sly stepped in front of her to stop her and continue the conversation. "Traitors? Who?" He asked simply with curiosity.

"You won't believe it but…..Inspector John Apallow Barkley and Captain Crieg Calon! We overheard them talking, and…..!"

He was cut off by Carmelita. "You expect us to believe that, dirty criminal!? How dare you spread such filthy lies, scum! I auto…..!"

Sly had to once again cut her off in order to prevent her from raging out of control. "Do you have any proof of this, Bentley? Knowing you as well as I do, you'd never make a claim like that with no base whatsoever."

"Absolutely." He replied, satisfied, pulling out the recording device from his wheel chair. "Right here. When I was scanning with my RC Chopper, I heard them conversing on top of a building about this 'master's' plan, or whatever. This should be proof enough right here." Bentley set the recording device on the ground, and then wheeled backwards as to not draw any suspicion, and let the recorder playback the recording.

"_Inspector Barkley, this is an outrage!" Crieg protested with great rage induced anger, setting his hands on his shock pistols. "How dare you defy his master in such a defiant and disrespectful way?! I should take you into him right now and….." _

"_And what!?" Barkely interrupted, just as mad. "Have me be fatally punished for telling the god damn truth!?" As he talked, Crieg gritted his teeth, getting even more crazed. "His master is crazy, and you know it! Ordering us to plant these bombs throughout Interpol's undergrounds just because we're inside agents! We're not bomb experts, by any means!" He flung his arms up in the air in rage. "If we mess up even slightly, we'll be dead, and he doesn't even seem to give a shit!" _

"_Why should he?" Crieg questioned irrationally. "Our job in all of this is to serve his master, and to make his dream become a reality! We are his tools, disposable pawns that he can do with what he pleases! Don't you understand that!?" _

"_Of course I do…..but still." Barkely started to calm down a little bit, and, as a result, so did Crieg. Crieg kept starring at him for a few minutes for Barkley to respond, the latter's large mustache hiding his still obvious frown. "I just don't know how much longer his master's going to have use for us." He finally exclaimed in his deep voice.  
_

"_THAT is irrelevant, 'Inspector'." He said that last word in a partially sarcastic tone of voice, then pulled out his left shock pistol, and pointed it at Barkley, finger on trigger. "Just remember your place, understand? We'd all hate for anything to have to happen to you for insubordination." He threatened with grave seriousness and severity. _

"_Yes, I understand, Captain." Barkley exclaimed in a worried tone, refraining from looking his Captain directly in the eyes, purely out of fear. _

As the recorder stopped, even Carmelita settled down completely, and both she and Sly looked on in disbelief. After awhile Sly stepped forward and picked up the recording device, and finally said, "Interesting. Carmelita, I think we should….."

Before he could finish his sentence he was cut out by Barkley. "Cooper! We've got three of'em!" He exclaimed.

He arriving with Crieg Calon, Tim Parker, and Willow Bodgan, each one having a Cooper Gang in handcuffs—Barkley himself had Jing King, Crieg had Murray, and Tim having Penelope, with Willow present just for further support. Bentley was incredibly surprised that his pals had been captured so easily—and what had happened to the van then—but Sly's facial expressions greatly confused all four of them.

"What's wrong, Cooper? There's the final member in front of you, capture him!" Crieg ordered, but still got no intelligent move out of Sly.

"I will in just a moment." Sly replied. "However first, tell me what you know about THIS recording." He played back the recording that Bentley gave him, earning himself looks of shock and dismay from all four of the cops.

"T-That's fake!" Barkley exclaimed immediately, which caused Sly to role his eyes.

"Really now? Well, given your hesitation to answer, I really wonder now." Turning his head to nearby guards, whom, by the way, were equipped with stainless steel armor, and rocket launchers, and ordered, "Men, place Inspector John Apallow Barkley and Captain Crieg Calon under arrest immediately. Put them and the captured Cooper Gang members in a cell, and have them wait for mine and Carmelita's arrival, that's an order!"

"What's this? You can't do this to me!" Crieg demanded in crisis. "I'm higher ranked than you are!"

Sly ignored Crieg and focused his attention on Bentley, as every guard and cop in the area cleared out, providing a very detailed escort for all five of the prisoners. "Bentley, I….."

"Don't say anything, Sly." Bentley cut him off, but more kindly than he'd imagined. "Even if you won't join us, that's fine for now. I just wanted to give that to you to sell them out for their crimes. But now you're aware that I'll have to try to break my friends out of prison, right?"

"I'm aware, but….." He turned to Carmelita. "Carm, take this to Research And Development and have them analyze it to make sure it's not a fake. Bentley's a genius, so faking something like this to blackmail them would be second nature." Carmelita took it out of his hand, nodded her head, and just left, trusting Sly alone with Bentley.

"I'll set you free for now, Bentley." He explained. "But we now know where your van is located, as well as your safe house, so if this recording is proved to be fake, then we're coming for you as well, understand?"

"Yes Sly, I understand. I think you'll be quite confident with what you find." Bentley said, giving an exasperated sigh.

Sly started to walk away, and Bentley turned away as well, heading back to the van immediately, and changing his attitude to being a bit more worried than he seemed to be beforehand. He wasn't so much worried for his friend's safety. He was completely confident that Sly wouldn't purposely allow any arm to come to them, despite us being on opposite sides of the law now. Moreover, he was worried as to how he was going to free them. Sure he managed to free Sly and Murray from prison nine years ago, but back then he wasn't bound to this god forsaken wheel chair, and had more maneuverability. It was difficult enough for him just to evade guards and cops in the streets of Tokyo, there was no telling how much security was on the inner workings of the damn prison. But still, he had to do it. For his friends. Bentley was also very pleased by today's turn of events; because he surmised that the partial success of today's mission only got them one step closer to acquiring Sly back into the gang once again, as the Master Thief that he was meant to be.

_**A/N: Well, there's chapter three! Pretty long, and a lot happened! So, how's Bentley going to go about breaking his pals out of prison! Tune in next time and find out! ** _


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since another chapter has been updated! A combination of real life issues, school, applying for colleges, as well as my YouTube hobby, other offline hobbies, and other stories I'm writing kept me from updating sooner! Anyways, here's the newest chapter! Hope you enjoy it! **_

_**Sly 4: A Thief's Darkness: Chapter Four: New Allies: **_

As soon as he arrived back at the safe house, Bentley's next move definitely wasn't taken a rest—considering that his friends have been arrested, AND their safe house has been discovered—and immediately got to work looking up information on the inner workings of Interpol on his computer. He brought up on screen scans of every notable cell—one that he figured contained Sly, one that he figured contained Penelope, one that he figured contained Jing King, and one that he figured contained Murray—as well as readings of all the security he would have to surpass in order to rescue his gang. At that moment Bentley's glasses slid down on his face, his mouth hanging open wide in astonishment towards what he was viewing.

_Unbelievable, I never imagined that Interpol would have such advanced security. Sensors that can sense you across the entire building, heat seeking missiles that split into tinier missiles when they hit an unintended target, radio signals that allows them to control debris like the ground and trees and whatnot. Crazy! _

Bentley continued his work, then focusing on a new gadget prototype that he'd been working on in his spare time. There was a file of it up on his laptop, and he also had the prototype itself set beside him, dusting it off as he continued.

_I think I'm finally done with the prototype of my new gadget, the RC Stealth Drone. It's a shame that I can't undergo an official test of my supreme experiment first, but I guess it'll have to do for now. The RC Stealth Drone is a mechanism that Penelope and I invented to aid us in jobs that were more stealth oriented, especially me. _

Bentley gazed over at his proud achievement. The RC Stealth Drone had a head like Bentley and a body like Penelope, and had eight legs, which with pointy tips. The drone itself was green, with all sorts of lights and buttons littered all over it.

_The_ _Drone was designed with many features that allow it to grow tall or shrink tiny, to fit in tight spaces, or reach high ledges. Should the event come that it somehow gets spotted by enemies, it has lasers and machine guns for battle, and it's actually pretty fast, with a set of retractable wheels for super fast travel. It's a master piece! _

Proud of his invention, Bentley then focused on quickly locating a new safe house. With the area of their current one exposed, they'd definitely be needing a new hideout to rest at. Once he was finished with his analysis, he packed up everything he'd need in his strangely large containing unit of his wheel chair, which included a very compactful RC Stealth Drone, and left to save his friends, with plans to take everything else to the new safe house later. Bentley's new mission took him far across Tokyo, to the only prison with any possibilities of him breaking into on his own—and even then it still wouldn't be easy—Cell Block F, where he suspected that Murray would've been captured at.

The outside wasn't guarded as much as Bentley would've figured, just five guards, which were easily dealt with using sleep darts and trigger bombs. Once the coast was clear, Bentley bombed the front door, which took ten bombs to fully take down, and headed inside. Once he started heading through Cell Block F, an automatic steel door dropped down where the brick door originally stood, creating no way for Bentley to go backwards, so the only option was to proceed forwards. Guards everywhere, sweat of fear trickling down Bentley's green neck, the trek through Interpol was a long one, with Bentley having to put guards and cops to sleep—some of them taking multiple sleep darts, because of special armor that they were adorned in—and blowing them up. After each bomb went off, Bentley had to retreat, because all the other guards would rush to his location, so he was only able to take out one guard at a time and then wait for about five minutes.

By the time he got past this first section, within about three hours or so, he was already exhausted, but his journey wasn't over yet. Next he saw a series of blue security beams, similar to the ones, Bentley thought, that were in General Tsao's Family Temple in China. The genius turtle placed his RC Car on the floor, holding the remote, and began weaving it in and out of the blue security beams, speeding through wide openings, and coming to a screeching halt when blue beam blockades were temporarily put up, as well as being as precise as possible when shooting falling objects that could give away his position. If he's not precise enough, then he could accidentally shoot one of the blue security beams.

The corridors that he had to travel were long and winding, causing way too many close calls, even flipping over several times. Despite being so far away from it, Bentley was able to still see the RC Car—as well as the RC Chopper, if he was using it—through a special device in his binocucom. When he reached the other end he found the control panel that was controlling the blue security beams and shot it to bits, turning them all off, allowing him to mosey his way to the other side pretty quickly. And yet, there was still more.

The next set of security that he had to bypass included a variety of trip wires, instant flame lasers, and spotlights—which Bentley tested by throwing rocks into their vicinity. It was really easy for him to avoid that batch of security, but it was still time consuming. When he got to the next room he was introduced to a series of security cameras and security turrets, making it nearly impossible for almost anyone to make it through. Bentley pressed some buttons on his wheel chair, getting to work. A long, mechanical arm stretched out of his chair and latched onto the nearest turret, which allowed him to swing his way up to it. Before he touched the turret, another arm reached out of his chair and grasped onto another nearby turret, allowing him to swing his way over to it. As he did, Bentley passed through a hidden turret, which instantly began firing at him rapidly. Hearing it just in the nick of time, Bentley spun around and used both his mechanical arms to latch to the ceiling and pulled himself up, barely dodging the shots. Once he did he spun himself back around again, and grabbed onto a security camera, swinging himself across once more. He continued this process, stealthily dodging and weaving past security cameras and turrets until he safely made it to the other side, nearly out of breath, panting from exhaustion, sweat sliding down his neck.

Bentley entered the next room, and was very pleased. What he saw was the inner sanctum of the prison, an entire league of bars with inmates. Bentley pulled out a radar device from his wheel chair and turned it on, which caused several blinking lights to pop up on it. _With this nifty little contraption, locating my friends should be pretty simple._ He though with a grin, and began excavating the corridors of the prison. Very few guards were patrolling at the moment—probably because of the ruckus that Bentley caused on the way inside—so it was a pretty easy to find everyone.

The first one that Bentley discovered was Murray, who was bound with a type of shackles on his ankles and wrists that would definitely grantee that he wouldn't be able to break out of them, despite his strength. The cage was easy to destroy—just one bomb did the trick—and he carefully deactivated the shackles, because they also seemed to be shock proof. Once Murray was free, who was wide awake seemingly even before Bentley arrived, he stretched his arms above his head and behind his back in sweet relief, glad to finally be free.

"Thanks pal! Glad you could free me, I thought I was going to go nuts being all shackled up in that cage for much longer! I need to punch something fast!" He exclaimed in excitement, which Bentley just grinned at, like always.

He replied, "Hehe, no problem Murray. You're wish will definitely be able to be fulfilled soon enough, right after I finish locating and freeing everyone else."

"Alright, so…..where is everyone else, buddy?" Murray questioned, when Bentley's device started beeping.

"Well, according to this, right behind us actually."

They turned around. Bentley noticed that it was a much larger cage, and the person who was trapped behind it was in the far back, shrouded by shadows and darkness, which was why they couldn't see him before hand. Bentley gracefully blew the bars to bits just like the previous and they both walked through to find Penelope knocked unconscious on the floor. I guess the guards figured she was so physically weak that there'd be no need to chain her up at all. It took a lot of shaking, but Bentley finally managed to wake Penelope up, who rejoiced her rescue by embracing Bentley in a huge hug, nearly knocking him off his wheel chair, and pecking him on the cheek. Her hair was strongly out long, meaning that her rubber band that was keeping it up in a pony tail must've fell out, signifying a huge struggle when she was captured before.

"Bentley, how'd you get in here alone? This place was so heavily guarded!" She shrieked in astonishment. "I believe in you, but that's an incredible feat even for you!"

"Well Penelope dear, there's no security system that I can't get past! The Contessa couldn't stop me, and by god, Interpol sure in the hell can't stop me!" He responded proud fully.

Their joyful embrace was cut short when they heard footsteps from around nearby corners, and the three got serious once again. Bentley took another glance at his locator device, which suddenly gave off a light, fragile beep, indicating that the next, and well…..final member to rescue, Jing King, was pretty far away from their current location. Without wasting any time, the three of them headed out immediately. Murray got to very "gracefully" let out all his frustration, as Bentley had promised, from being caged up for so damn long, by smashing his way through every guard he laid eyes on, and, quite literally, cracking some skulls. Penelope—with her two pirates swords from her fight with LeFwee roughly eight years prior—and Bentley—with his bombs—fought a little bit, but didn't have to take care of any of the huge hauls, because Murray took care of that for them.

Once they reached Jing's cage, she wasn't tied up at all. All they seemed to have done was confiscated her weaponry—which mainly consisted of her firework bazooka and fireworks, but also a few bombs that she had scattered on her. She was wide awake when they found her, failing at every attempt to rip the bars keeping her in captivity down, shouting strange battle cries in some sort of Chinese like her father, earning her strange looks from all three of them, and a small chuckle from Bentley.

As soon as Jing laid eyes on her saviors, she instantly calmed down, even if ever so slightly, with a grin on her face large and creepy enough to pass as a Halloween Costume. Bentley quickly took care of the bars, freeing Jing King, so the entire gang was back together once again. Now all that was missing was Sly, who, Bentley feared, still wouldn't be so easy to convince. Although they'd shown continued loyalty to his friendship by selling out the "bad-cops" so to speak, within Interpol, Cooper was still standing firm about being an Interpol Agent and being with Carmelita Montoya Fox, the love of his life, so this would be very tricky indeed.

Wasting no time on trival words, the gang continued maneuvering themselves to the opposite side of the prison that Bentley entered for two reasons—it was the least guarded, (because of the ruckus Bentley caused, guards and cops had piled over in that direction), and it also seemed to be where Jing's confiscated gear was located, which they of course had to get back quickly.

Once Jing had acquired her gear, she quickly put it on her and was prepared for combat, which was followed by plenty of just that. Something that Bentley didn't plan on, surprisingly, but Jing King's gear was rigged to a very cleaver alarm—probably set up by Sly, wouldn't doubt it, (because only he could probably set up an alarm system that Bentley couldn't detect, because he'd been around Bentley so damn often, that he could probably bypass any technology that Bentley threw his way)—so plenty of guards headed in their direction. However, Bentley still had a backup plan, which involved his RC Stealth Drone.

Bentley gave the order for Murray and Jing to continue battling the onslaught of guards and cops. He motioned for Penelope to follow him, just out of range so the foes couldn't see him passed Jing and Murray fighting them, and then showed her the RC Stealth Drone that he'd been working on, which of course made her rather impressed, and curious as to what it would be used for.

Before she could say anything, Bentley said, "I don't have time for an explanation, Penelope dear. Let me just give you a demonstration of sorts. Pay close attention, and watch my magic!"

Bentley wheeled over to a nearby air vent, bombed the shaft wide open, and put the Drone to use, using his remote control to maneuver it, and a device that he pulled out of his wheel chair to keep tabs on its location at all times. When he activated it, the Drone compacted itself by sticking all eight of its legs in itself, and it also grew eight wheels in their place. Once inside the air vent, it maneuvered its way through. Astonished, Penelope observed the RC Stealth Drone sneak through the ventilation system. Once it reached the other side, it used some compact missiles to destroy the nearest wall that leads outside, and then returns safely to Bentley.

"That was incredible!" Penelope exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Bentley responded confidently. "But enough of that! Everyone, let's break for the exit!"

Bentley, Penelope, Murray, and Jing King sped for the exit, but are confronted, just as they make it outside, by the white fox known as Fang Morvits Slammer. Although this was a prison break, Fang appeared to be rather laid back and relaxed. Both his shock pistols were holstered by his sides, and his hands were resting in his pockets. He had his fur tied back in a large white ponytail.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked in a nonchalant tone of voice. His facial expression adorned a smile, but not one of treachery, one simply of playfulness.

Jing, Murray, and Penelope began to tense up, but Bentley gave them a gaze of ease which caused them to suddenly calm down and relax. Bentley wheeled forward, confronting Fang bravely, impressing him.

"So, Lord Fang Morvits Slammer, I take it?" He exclaimed in a demanding, yet shaky tone.

"That's right. Done your research, I see." Fang responded. He stepped forward, causing Bentley and his three comrades to go back a bit in fear.

"O-Of course, Slammer!" Bentley said, his voice even more shaky than before, and extra nastily. "I never go into battle without knowing my enemies first!"

"I see." Fang replied, and then showed a long pause before continuing, "You are an incredibly intelligent turtle, Bentley. It's no wonder how Sly Cooper and the rest of you managed to escape the clutches of Interpol for so damn long. Not to mention why Carmelita was so obsessed with catching you guys. We always thought it was Sly, but now I see it was all because of you. Without you, Sly Cooper, the Master Thief, would've been nothing. With that in mind—"before he finished his statement, he instantly appeared behind Bentley, in the blink of an eye—"Once you're out of the picture, Cooper could never return to being a successful thief." He whispered in Bentley's ear so nobody else could hear it.

Bentley was already reluctant to face off against Fang. He'd done research how famous—or infamous, depending on whom you were—that Fang was at Interpol, and around the entire world, for his skills and abilities. But still, he had no choice but to confront him. Bentley spun around and activated his wheel chairs boosters, which launched him up in the air. Quicker than Bentley could react, Fang drew one of his shock pistols and shot up at Bentley, which struck his wheel chair and deactivated it, knocking it and Bentley hard to the ground at separate locations. Jing launched some fireworks in Fang's direction, who managed to dodge out of the way pretty easily, landing far away from the gang.

Fang, still holding his odd grin on his face, drew his other shock pistol, dusted himself off, and was about to approach one more time, a voice of urgency suddenly came from afar, sounding both angry and surprised.

"Fang! Stop right there!" He sounded. When everyone shifted their view, it turned out to be Sly, with Carmelita standing right beside him.

"Why are you interrupting, Cooper." Fang's tone suddenly went rather low, and his smile turned to a frown. "Do you intend on allowing these filthy thieves to escape once again?"

"Not at all, sir." Sly retorted with disdain. "I just want to talk to them first, then we can lock them back up again, alright?"

"Geh…..fine, but make it quick." Fang agreed reluctantly.

"They escaped?" Carmelita exclaimed in shock. "I knew we should've locked them up in our most secure prison, deep underground." Only Sly was paying attention to her statement, when she just nodded to in agreement, with a sad, solemn face.

Sly walked up to Bentley and graciously aided him in getting back in his wheel chair, which he seemed very grateful for, but had a hard time showing at this moment. Jing King prepared for battle, fearing that he may attack, but all he did was walk back over to Fang's location.

"Lord Fang Morvits Slammer." He exclaimed loudly, intentionally allowing the gang to hear his report. "The audio recording that we were shown before was tested, and was proven to be real. Barkley and Crieg have been put behind bars, and are currently awaiting trial." His explanation earned himself a confused gaze by Fang, and a satisfied gaze from Bentley. Sly turned and said, "Thank you Cooper Gang for helping us capture the traitors in our midst. However," he said, drawing his shock pistol, "I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to go free again, so you are now hereby under arrest, Cooper Gang."

As Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Jing King prepared for battle, fearing the worst, Bentley still rather dazed from the fall he took, a shadowy figure sped by Bentley first, then Jing, then Penelope, then Murray, confusing them greatly. Then it appeared behind Fang and Sly, as a figure hovering in the air in a brown cloak, pointing a couple of katana's at the back of their heads. Reacting quickly, Fang spun around with a roundhouse kick, and the mysterious visitor hit the ground and back flipped to safety, afterwards suddenly appearing next to the gang itself, but not yet ready for rest.

Bentley whispered, "Who….."

He was cut off. "Don't ask any questions." The mysterious guest whispered as well. "Just trust me. I know where your safe house is at. I've come to get out here. Just follow my lead."

"Who are you?" Sly asked, agitated, pointing his shock pistol with his finger on the trigger.

"An ally of the Cooper Gang…..and an ally of the Cooper Clan…..and since it appears that you're not affiliated to either anymore, then not an ally of you, that's for damn sure." He explained, and attacked Sly.

Sly ducked the first katana strike, but was slashed in the arm by the second. It didn't cut his arm off, but it wounded it pretty bad, blood spilling from it at rapid rate, as Sly rolled away from everyone else, seemingly already defeated. The mysterious visitor then shifted his feet and twirled into Fang's direction, and tried striking him, but he missed with both strikes. He continued to attack, not only using strikes of his swords, but also kicking occasionally as well. He flipped behind Fang, spun around, and tried to strike, but Fang caught both his swords in his hands, without dropping his shock pistols, and also without turning around—all he had to do was reach his arms behind his back, because of his strong grip and large amount of muscular strength.

Fang dropped his shock pistols finally, turned around, and punched the mysterious visitor in the face, sending him flying. Before he got far, he bounced and spun high into the air, and when he hit the ground, he charged in again, striking at Fang several times, who managed to dodge every single attempt at being cut.

While all this was happening, Bentley was observing the battle, confused and dazed. Penelope ran over to him and shook his shoulders, finally breaking him from his trance. Both of them shook heads, acquired Murray and Jing, and then the four of them together began to escape, but they were cut off suddenly by Carmelita, who drew her shock pistol, and pointed it at them.

"FREEZE, CRIMINALS!" She shouted with venom in her voice.

Noticing the gang's obstruction out of the corner of his eye, the mysterious ally hurriedly ran over to their position at break neck speeds, and, before Carmelita could fire, stuck one of his swords in her shock pistol, and jumped away, which caused it to explode and send her flying back, wounded, but seemingly still alive, afterwards the mysterious helper jumped back rather far for safety, turning his attention back to Fang. Sly quickly hurried over to Fang to help him in battle, pulling out his shock pistol.

After a few more seconds of silence, an intense stare down proceeding, Fang said, "So…..it's you, is it? I never imagined that you'd find me so quickly. How persistent of you, Lupon."

Sly tilted his head toward Fang, confused. "You know him, Fang? Who's Lupon, and what's he want? Also, how do you know him?"

"Erm…..that's unnecessary information, Sly." Fang responded. "All that matters at this moment is his capture for aiding in a criminal's endeavors. Perhaps I'll explain the story to you sometime in the future."

"Like I'll give you the time for that!" Lupon exclaimed, charging in for another assault.

Once he gets over to Fang and Sly, rather quickly I might add, he ducks down, his head positioned just below Fang's chin, and slashes upwards at Fang, which he diverts away from by backing away. Once he's far enough away, Fang shoots a barrage of shock pistol shots at Lupon, which he evades by withdrawing back to Bentley's position, and then immediately confronts Fang again. Lupon stabs both his katanas in the ground and places a special tag on each one of them, on the end of the handles, which causes them to glow with electricity.

"Secret Lupon Art: Electrical Surge!" Once he shouts this out, the electricity that is surging through the swords attaches to the ground, and, with a flip of his thumbs, he causes it to travel directly toward Fang with high velocity, and seemingly high power as well.

Sly, still being very close to Fang, attempts to jump out of the way, but is still caught up in part of the blast, sending himself flying far in the other direction. When he lands he tries to stand up, but finds that his leg was broken by the blast. However, it was Fang who took the full brunt of the attack. Once it struck, both Fang's shock pistols were instantly destroyed, and Fang flew far back into the distance. When he landed he struggled to climb his way to his feet, and reached into his pocket, hesitating to pull it back out for awhile.

The mysterious visitor yanked his two swords out of the ground before him, and sheathed them back up again. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a very large dagger, curved at each edge, and a handle on the back separate from the blade itself, with each side of the handle attached to each side of the dagger. He pulled another tag out of his pocket and placed it on the dagger, electrifying it just like he previously did to his swords. He then started swinging the dagger towards Fang, slashing up, down, right left, and all ways diagonally. Fang was so wounded he was only barley managing to get past all of the cloaked man's blows, and even had to jump far backward every now and then, effortlessly maintaining his feet's grip on the ground, despite how much damage he'd taken beforehand.

The mysterious visitor spun around and flung the dagger at Fang, still incredibly electrified, bull's eyeing it right through his left arm, causing Fang to crash to the ground in sheer agony. He quickly grasped the dagger and yanked it out, and blood started spilling everywhere, so he grabbed the cut location on his arm and squeezed it as hard and forcefully as he could.

"Are you finished already Slammer!?" The mysterious visitor exclaimed, sounding oddly a shit tone like Sly, and as cockily as well, except his tone gave of some extreme anger. "I expected more from you. What happened to that incredible speed, strength, still, and that smug nature you're so famous for? I always pictured you as the bigger man in these types of situations."

Once the bleeding on Fang's arm ceased, for the most part, he stood up, seemingly ready to battle again, which out of nowhere, a few shock pistol shots interrupted their battle from afar. Sly, Carmelita, and Bentley, who had finally regained composure, as well as Penelope and Jing, were as stunned as those two, wondering who it was. Wasting no time at all, the culprit, who landed in front of both of them, facing Shotgun, two shock pistols drawn. He had a Captain's badge on of Interpol, a gruff beard and mustache, and very short hair, red eyes, and a Captain's uniform on, too. He was holding two shock pistols, but an expression that nobody expected. He didn't seem to be angry at all, but rather satisfied, which was odd.

"That's enough." He exclaimed, his tone slightly more vicious than his facial expressions would tell you. "You're done fighting. This senseless violence isn't going to solve anything."

"Jim!" Fang shouted angrily. "Why did you interfere? This is my battle, not yours!"

Jim chuckled and replied, "My deepest apologies my Captain, but…..have you not yet figured out whom this really is?" This shocked the visitor greatly, that even this Jim-guy figured him out.

Fang attempted to calm down slightly, visibly difficult for him to do given the situation, and said, "Of course I have. He's the legendary thief, Shotgun Lupon. Why?"

"No offense sir, but….." He responded, trailing off for a bit….."If you had, then you should know that even you, with all due respect, can't defeat this man. It's impossible." Jim looked at Shotgun and ordered, "Alright, that's enough of this bullshit. You can take off that mask now, no need in hiding your identity any longer Shotgun."

Shotgun gave a deep, heavy sigh, and grabbed hold of the hood on his cloak. "Fine, very well then." He responded, and yanked his hood off.

On the other side was a male raccoon, seeming to be only a few years older than Sly, but looking oddly exactly like Sly. He yanked the rest of his cloak off, and he was revealed to be little taller than Sly, probably roughly seven feet tall, with his tale reaching a few inches above his head. He had three sword sheathes on his back, two where his other swords went, and one still sheathed up, and a vest, arm wrappings and leg wrappings, each that has pockets all over them for weapons to fit, and he also looked incredibly physically fit.

"Captain Jim C-Coheed?" Sly exclaimed warily, having difficulty to kneel upright. "I thought you were on a mission, sir."

"I was." Jim said so matter-of-fact. "But it turns out the entire damn thing was a wild goose chase. A wild goose chase constructed by the man before us, Shotgun Lupon, the legendary master thief. It's been a long time." He put his full attention to Shotgun with that last statement.

Shotgun didn't answer verbally, but instead just slowly nodded his head in agreement, a frown on his face. His eyes shifted to Sly, then to Carmelita, then to Bentley, then to Jing, then to Penelope, and then he gave off a large sigh of frustration as his eyes returned to Jim and Fang.

"It's been so many years since we've met," Shotgun said finally, "I was hoping that our next confrontation wouldn't be under these conditions, old friend."

Fang, Sly, and Carmelita suddenly looked distressed. "Captain, do you know this guy?" Carmelita questioned, walking over to Jim.

"Uh…..yeah, something like that." He responded, narrowing his view to the ground, his voice low and rigid.

Silence followed. Shotgun shifted his view and saw Bentley, Jing, Murray, and Penelope begin to inch away from him in fear, prepared for battle if need be, and all he did was just smile and shake his head. "Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I am an ally. I'm here to help." He explained, but they were still filled with disbelief.

"Why should we trust you, we don't even know you!" Penelope replied reasonably.

"If you don't trust me yet….." Shotgun began, turning his head back in front of him….."Then let's see if you can trust me after this."

They expected him to make the next move, but he did nothing. Just stood there. He and Fang began intensely starring each other down, attempting to read each other's thoughts.

"Sly." Shotgun said suddenly, turning his attention.

"Eh." Sly said stunned. "Y-Yes, what do you want!?" He exclaimed defensively, raising his shock pistol at Shotgun.

Shotgun shook his head and started walking toward Sly, frowning. "I've been waiting years to meet up with you, Sylvester James Cooper, but when I do I find you like this? An Interpol officer? How shameful. Your father would be so disappointed in you."

His comment caught Sly off guard, shocking him and causing him disdain and, eventually, grief. His gaze narrowed in on Shotgun, the tall raccoon, who's expression, even after that mean and strange comment, remained nearly emotionless and matter-of-factly.

"The fu ck!?" Sly snapped almost immediately. "You don't know a thing about me OR my father, so just shut up, criminal!"

"Oh really?" Shotgun responded humorously. "How little you know about your father and his gang, or about your lineage as a whole, for that matter. So sad, Cooper." He said coldly. Everyone suddenly went silent at Shotgun's words, his hair long and wavy, blowing in the wind, the sun gradually beginning to set behind everyone. "Haven't you ever read about me in the Thievieus Raccoonus?"

"Quite spouting nonsensical shit!" "Sly spat, suddenly infuriated with rage. "Your name was never mentioned in the Thievieus Raccoonus, and rightfully so!" Fang gave him a confused look, and he explained, "Uh, oh yeah…..the Thevieus Raccoonus is the book passed down in the Cooper Line for generations, originally created by the first recorded Cooper Slytunkhamen ll, it's pages overflowing with the moves, techniques, powers, and exploits of me esteemed ancestors."

_I see. So he excluded a lot of the Cooper's dark history from the book, myself including. Connor, you bastard._ Shotgun thought to himself, backing away, which Sly noticed immediately.

"You running away, thief!?" Sly stammered.

"Not at all." Shotgun replied calmly. "Just regrouping. I've got things I have to take care of before I come after you, Cooper."

Sly suddenly went very monotone and nearly emotionless—clearly, Shotgun was starting to get to him. "Who the hell are you?" He asked in wonder.

"An ally." He said simply. "An ally of the Cooper Line…..and of your father, Connor Cooper. Till next time."

Without another word Shotgun leaped slightly behind the Cooper Gang members, and posed in a low stance where he could protect them and help them escape at the same time, with both his legs bent, one of his legs stretched far out behind him, and both his arms stretched out perfectly straight. He reached over and pressed a button on a black watch on his wrist, which caused a getaway van of his own to speed out of the nearby bushes and skid straight over to their position, the backdoor opening up immediately, and the silhouette of a mysterious person sitting in the driver's seat. She tiled her head to the van's back door, revealing herself to be a female fox with orange fur, looking very similar to Carmelita, with minor differences.

"Quickly, get in! We need to get the hell out of here!" She ordered in a high Russian accent, turning her head back to the front of the van.

Wasting no time, Shotgun hopped in the van. Although still very skeptical, Bentley, Penelope, Murray, and Jing got in as well, so they could avoid capture by Interpol. Before they shut the doors, Bentley and Murray both gazed back at Sly, whose chocolate eyes briefly turned very beady, and also gazed back very saddened, but still firm with his decision to stay with Interpol. When the door was shut, the female fox sped away from that area, Shotgun sitting in the passenger's side, and Murray, Penelope, and Jing sitting in the back seats, with Bentley sitting in his wheel chair, turning on his laptop.

As nightfall continued to approach, Shotgun's van drove far to the outskirts of Tokyo, even further than the gang's safe house was. Shotgun's van was slightly larger than the Cooper Van, but was painted navy blue on the outside, with a symbol on the back of it that looked very similar to the Cooper Logo, with very few differences—probably Shotgun's symbol really, or perhaps an alteration of the Cooper Logo. Concerned as to where exactly they were headed, Bentley wheeled closer to the front of the van to speak.

"Uh, Shotgun." He began. "Do you even know where our safe house is at?" His voice was its normal nastily self.

Shotgun responded immediately. "Yes, in fact, but it's not safer for you guys any longer. We're taking you to our safe house, which I know for a fact that they'll never discover. I promise."

"So." Bentley continued, looking over at the female fox driving the van, but she cut her out.

"My name is Camka Rncnubl. I'm Shotgun's girlfriend," she grinned and gazed at Shotgun who just rolled his eyes at this, "as well as his thieving partner, and have been both for many, many, many years now." Her extremely long hair, which would've probably normally stretched down to her but, was tied back into a very large ponytail, the ponytail itself stretching down ALMOST to her back, just slightly above it. The hair in front of her head waved gently in the wind with the open window.

Camka made a sharp turn, throwing the Cooper Gang members in the back around viciously, except for Bentley, who oddly enough managed to maintain his position in his wheel chair firmly. "So, who are you guys?" Bentley questioned.

"We'll explain when we reach our hideout, so you four can meet our gang members." Shotgun explained. "Here we are." He said suddenly.

The van came to a screeching halt, in the middle of a meadow far outside of Tokyo itself, seemingly nothing in sight. Shotgun and Camka got out of the van, and motioned for every else to as well, which they did. It was very confusing and discouraging for all four of them.

"What is this? I'm not seeing anything!" Murray complained.

"Hold on." Shotgun exclaimed. Using the same watch that he used to summon the van, he pressed another button. When he did, the ground started shaking, and after several seconds, a huge area in the meadow started opening up from the ground, revealing a very elaborate and secretive passageway to an amazing underground hideout.

"Amazing!" Bentley complimented.

"Astonishing!" Penelope agreed.

"Cool!" Murray said.

"Unbelievable!" Jing exclaimed.

"Quickly, let's head inside before anyone catches us." Shotgun ordered.

"What about the van?" Bentley asked.

"No vehicles are allowed to be drive in this specific passageway." Camka explained. "Some of our gang members will arrive her shortly to retrieve the van and take it to safety, so don't worry about it."

"Fair enough." Bentley agreed. "But where are we headed?"

"Deep into our underground hideout of my large scale syndicate." Shotgun responded.

"Did you just say SYNDICATE!?" Penelope exclaimed, alarmed.

"Yes." Shotgun confirmed. "Both Camka and I here are the two leaders of the largest syndicate in the world, and have been for many years now." As he continued to explain, all six of them entered, and the ground entrance closed ferociously behind them, inside lights instantly flickering on due to the absence of outside light rays. "I've been the leader of this syndicate for over 50 years now." The rather subtle explanation of his age shocked all four members of the Cooper Gang greatly.

"Over the years it's been shifting and changing, especially in terms of members. Members would get captured—sometimes we could break them out, but not always—and members would also die, or member would abandon the syndicate, in which case we would have to eliminate the traitors, so they could never join up with a rival or enemy gang or syndicate and give away our secrets and weaknesses."

When they got further enough into the secret base, which appeared to stretch on nearly forever, they turned left and entered one of the seemingly thousands of rooms, entering a very large room with tables and chairs scattered all about. Everyone took a seat as Shotgun continued explaining. "About ten years ago I met Camka here while on a job—she was a thief as well—and instantly fell in love." This earned him a blush and wink from Camka, which he just chuckled at. "She joined the syndicate almost immediately, and has been leading it along with me ever since."

Bentley stayed silent for awhile attempting to process this new, interesting, incredible information being delivered to him. "So what's your connection to the Cooper Clan?" He asked finally, suddenly remembering Shotgun's previous conversation with Sly.

"Eh…..I think I should wait to explain the entire story until Sly's present." Shotgun said. "Let's just say though that I used to be best friends with Connor Cooper, and for a time, was a member of his Cooper Gang, while also running my syndicate simultaneously."

"You knew Sly's dad?" Murray blurted out.

"Yeah." He responded. "We knew each other for many years, and pulled off many heists with one another. Connor and I were the best of friends. I'm just disappointed that Sly is working with Interpol right now, what happened to make him switch sides?"

Bentley explained. "He's been in love with Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox for many years, the cop who had been chasing us. After we failed to acquire the loot in the Cooper Vault," that made Shotgun's ears perk up slightly, "Sly found a moment to fake amnesia in order to be with Carmelita—who eventually ended up returning his love—and joined Interpol. Sometime later he did end up revealing the truth to her, which I guess she oddly enough accepted."

"I see." Shotgun gathered all the information in his head.

Bentley continued. "At any rate, we need him back into the gang. Not only are we missing a lifelong friend, ever since we were children in the orphanage, but we'll also definitely need his thieving skills for our greatest heist yet, breaking into and stealing from the gold loots at Fort Knox. We can't break into that heavily fortified fortress ourselves."

Before Shotgun or Camka could respond to his explanation, another member of the Syndicate swung the door open and walked into the room. He was a burly rhino, with very large muscles, almost body builder size, and a very mean looking expression on his face. Despite his look though, his voice sounded very gentle and harmless, for the most part.

"Shotgun, the van has been safely hidden and secured for you." He explained in a fluent German-Russian accent.

"Excellent work Hocopor, thank you very much." Shotgun replied gratefully. "This is the Cooper Gang that I told you about before." He said, introducing the gang.

"Greetings Cooper Gang." Hocopor exclaimed excitedly.

Shotgun continued, "Bentley, Penelope, Jing, Murray, this is Hocopor. He's been a very good friend of mine for over 30 years now. To me, he's one of the most valuable and appreciated members of the Lupon Syndicate. He'll be aiding us on heists quite a bit in the future."

"I see. Hello, I'm Bentley." Bentley said.

"I'm THE MURRAY!" This made Hocopor chuckle a little.

"I'm Penelope."

"And I am Jing King, daughter of the legendary Panda King." Jing exclaimed proudly, earning herself a raised eyebrow from Hocopor, impressed.

"Hocopor." Shotgun cut in. "Why don't you show these four to their rooms, I'm sure they're exhausted by now?" He ordered.

"Yes sir, I understand." Hocopor obeyed gladly. "Please, come this way, Cooper Gang."

Hocopor opened the door, and the five of them began to exit. Before they left completely, Shotgun shouted, "We'll discuss this more tomorrow once you're rested up and wide awake! And be sure to take it easy, we're your allies here! Your friends! Make yourselves at home, please!" Before Shotgun could yell anything else at them the door slammed behind them, and Shotgun himself was cut off from speech.

Camka walked over and sat down beside him, wrapping one of her arms and her tail around him. "Shotgun hun, you sure it's alright to trust them? I know you were really good friends with Connor Cooper, as was I, but we've never met these fellows before. Maybe we should….."

"You worry too much, babe." Shotgun noted humorously. He wrapped his arm around her, and gave her a peck on the cheek. "If Sly could trust them back in the day—Connor's SON, mind you—then I can most definitely trust them. I don't know why, but I just can."

"Well, alright." Camka's expression was still extremely skeptical and sketchy. "But still, shouldn't we have filled them in on more information? I mean, they are Sly's best friends after all, right?" She suggested with concern.

"No, it's not the right time." Shotgun protested firmly. "It's about Sly's lineage, so Sly himself should be present when we reveal the truth. The Cooper Clan's dark past."

Camka sighed, finally giving in. "Alright, I guess." She said. "Let's just get some sleep ourselves then. I have a feeling that we'll have a huge job on our hands tomorrow. We'll need all of the sleep and strength possible in order to succeed with this operation."

"Indeed. Let's get going then. I don't need to sleep often, but I haven't slept in weeks, so I actually am very tired." Shotgun exclaimed.

Both of them got up and walked out the door and to their bedroom, just across the hallway from the room they were previously in, slamming the door behind them. When they did, the majority of the lights in the place suddenly flickered off, save for just a few so moving syndicate members could see their ways.


End file.
